Page 67 of Another Girl Lost

A car door opened and closed, and I glanced over my shoulder to see a woman get out of a blue van and lift a baby from the back seat. As she moved toward her own house, she cooed to her child.

When she saw me standing there, she frowned, and when her baby squawked, she held her closer and hurried inside.

A house, I reminded myself, was bricks and wood. It wasn’t blood and bones. It wasn’t Tanner. Or Della. It deserved better memories.

I climbed the front steps and noted the police seal on the front door. When I tried the front door, I discovered it was unlocked. Did the cops think their seal would keep trouble out of the house? I twisted the knob and pushed the door open, tearing the seal.

This house was almost identical to my mother’s. Wood floors, a kitchen that dated back to the seventies, and small chopped-up rooms. Moving around the corner, I saw the fireplace had been reduced to piles of bricks, crushed mortar dusting the floor.

Following scattered yellow evidence markers, I approached the opening in the wall by the kitchen. The wall space was small, and Icouldn’t imagine a body jammed in the gap. Tanner had been doing the reno work alone, so if the house smelled of decomposing body, no one knew but him. And maybe Lynn. How could she have missed the smell if she’d been in the house?

When I left, closing the door behind me, the police seal dangled, a silent witness to my invasion. I looked up and saw the young mother standing at her window watching me. A phone was pressed to her ear. I’d bet she was calling the cops.

As I moved to my truck, my phone buzzed with a text. I glanced down, relieved at the interruption. It was from Tiffany’s number.We need to talk. Someone is watching me.

Blood rushed to my ears as I stared at the words for a long moment.

Who?

I don’t know.

Text bubbles rolled and rolled, but then they stilled and vanished.

Where are you?

There was no reply.

Chapter Twenty-One

SCARLETT

Then

Maybe day seventy in the basement

I curled my knees close to my chest and closed my eyes as the radio upstairs blathered on about August heat. We’d been in this room alone together for two days. There’d been no sign of Tanner, and neither of us had eaten and the water jug he’d left us was empty. My head pounded, and my stomach felt like it was eating itself.

“We’re in this together, you know. We need each other,” Della said.

I looked up and I wanted to rail on her and remind her I was here because of her. But I was becoming a practiced liar. I could smile when all I wanted to do was scream. “I know.”

Della crawled toward me. As she got closer, I could see her eyes, shadowed by dark smudges, sparkle with need.

“He’s scouting another girl.”

I stilled. “Who?”

“I don’t know her name. He calls her the redhead.”

Disgust ricocheted through me, and I struggled to keep my face neutral. What if I helped him but couldn’t escape? What if I not only failed to get away but also condemned another girl to this hell?

Della took my hand and kissed it. “You’re worrying. I can see the line creasing your forehead.”

I pulled my hand back. “I’m not.”

“I can almost see your brain turning. You think we’ll fail. And we’ll all be trapped here together.”

I wanted out of this room more than anything. And I’d do whatever I could to get free. I would risk another girl’s life to save mine. I was becoming Della. A cold chill slipped through my bones. “Why does he do it?”

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